There are quite a few options to share 3G internet among others as already discussed in sharing 3G internet over WIFI. This 3G router is particularly interesting for those with a boat, motorhome, RV of campervan with a steady supply of electric power through battery or engine.

The GlobeSurfer III also fits fixed home situations with weak or intermittent 3G coverage, such as a holiday home, second home, time-share apartment in a rural area.

Here’s a first hand impression of the Option GlobeSurfer III used on the road installed in a large camper truck with external 3G antenna. Installation and use is similar for those living on a sailboat, yacht or canal boat.

Sharing 3G cellular internet with the GlobeSurfer III - on the right a Thuraya HNS-7100 satellite phone in a docking station

Option GlobeSurfer III impression

On first sight, three useful features make the GlobeSurfer III stand out from other 3G routers; The external antenna connection, the SIM card slot and the front display.

Status display - showing connection

SIM card slot at the bottom

Option GlobeSurfer III antenna jack

Being in close vicinity of a GSM/UMTS base station when moving around isn’t always the case. The same applies for moving closer to the base station for a better connection. Specially when you’re on a boat or drive a large motorhome. A 3G external roof top antenna is a very useful feature increasing 3G range and connection speed significantly.

The internal color display of the Option GlobeSurfer III is simply great. It’s direct feedback without having to log on to the management console. It shows the internet connection status and the computers connected to the 3G router – very useful info.

Mini 3G external antenna

The 3G external antenna isn't included when buying the Option GlobeSurfer III. Finding a 3G antenna with MC card plug isn't that easy for those not familiar with HF plugs and jacks. Next to that 3G antenna are sold for overinflated prices - in most cases it's nothing more than a plug, wire and antenna rod.

3G external antenna for better range

The Option GlobeSurfer III uses a "MC card" antenna jack. It’s a miniature antenna connection not to be used too often. For those not familiar with these antenna plugs it can be quite a struggle to be sure to select the external antenna with the right plug. The other micro antenna plug variants like MCX, MMCX, Proxim and UFL look similar but are different from the MC plug.

A RP-SMA connector would make more sense for the GlobeSurfer III (above - top right) as found in WIFI devices with external antenna’s. For those considering buying the Option GlobeSurfer III it consider using a MC plug to RP-SMA conversion lead. It saves the fragile MC external antenna jack and allows other GSM/UMTS antenna’s with RP-SMA plug.

The picture above shows the normal RP-SMA plug - (not the reverse version) connected to a RG-174 coaxial lead for indoor use. For outdoor use and larger distances RG-58 coaxial leads are better.

For those considering DIY antenna leads – soldering RP-SMA connectors requires experience and the right tools. Soldering a RP-SMA connector for the first time takes quite a bit of trial and error miniature work.

Setting up a 3G connection

Setting up a 3G internet connection requires a bit of experience with GSM / UMTS internet connections and managing network routers. The installation manual assumes this experience and provides minimal information. Below an impression of the management console of the 3G router – connected using the WIFI access point.

Option GlobeSurfer III management console - through WIFI access point

The pincode of the SIM card is entered through the management console.

The cellular internet settings are entered in WAN cellular properties:

Option GlobeSurfer III 3G cellular WAN settings AP and username

To get the Option GlobeSurfer III operational the Acces Point name (AP), username and password was entered for the vodafone network. Network Authentication was set on PAP for this network.

The 3G router has several other software features, such as sharing a USB disk and printer over LAN.

Using the Option GlobeSurfer III on the road is a smooth experience. With a cellphone GSM/UMTS signal strength was monitored to avoid parking at a spot with no GSM / UMTS coverage. To connect to the internet requires entering the pincode through the management console (can be on auto-save also) then pressing the connect button on the Option GlobeSurfer III.

Sharing a disk through the USB port is also quite simple - inserting the USB disk then enable disk sharing. The disk appears on the network similar to a NAS. (Network Added Storage). As common with UNIX based systems - disk formatting should be FAT32 otherwise disk sharing reverts to read-only mode (with NFTS).

USB disks need to be externally powered. The GlobeSurfer III USB port doesn't supply enough power to run a 2,5" sized SATA laptop disk. The USB port is reported as USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/s) in the system management log. The speed is enough for casual file sharing. Driveimaging (Norton Ghost) over the shared USB disk slows the 3G internet connection indicating high processor load. NAS speed isn't high enough for a fast driveimage. A quick test showed a throughput of about 1Mbyte/sec.

After a while the display turns into screen saving mode showing the time moving around the screen. When there hasn't been an internet connection yet - the time is shown as two dashes. "-:-".

Unfortunately data / bandwidth usage is gone when powering off the GlobeSurfer. This while the total connection is remembered in non-volatile storage. It would be quite useful to display actual data usage on the internal display - maybe something for a future release?